"SAR Copernicus"

[Hunter Matheson 0]

“SAR Copernicus”

 

Semper paratus was the motto of the old U.S. Coast Guard, but somewhere along the line 1/1 FORECON Marines added it to semper fidelis. At first it was a joke - a stab at the Coast Guard’s work in murky waters. Then it stuck. FORECON was always ready for anything and everything. At one point someone wanted to shove the e pluribus unum from the old United States into the mix, but they nixed it as overkill. Bottom line was each team functioned as a unit and each platoon functioned as a unit of always-ready teams.

 

Within those units were specialists: tactical, communications, and medical among them, with all team members having extensively trained in a broad range of weapons. No wonder it took two years (and sometimes more) of very expensive training to be tagged 1/1. The training was there, the teamwork was there; all they needed were the specifics, so when the major called for gear-up, Delta, Easy, Charlie, Foxfire, and Geronimo would prep and be ready for mission-go in ten.

 

Team Leaders gathered ‘round the team prep room table, the rest filing in behind and lining the walls to listen.

 

“Settle down, listen up. The situation is this,” Kal began as a detailed map of their area of operations appeared on the screen behind him.

 

“USS Copernicus hasn’t reported in for 14 plus days, no contact, not even so much as one ping. No transponder signal, nothing. They took no backup. No other ships have been in the area, no comm chatter; they’re essentially out there on their own.

 

“Last known location was here,” he stepped back as a point materialized on the screen, “in the middle of the nebula that’s only 20 minutes from our location. She’s Oberth class scout-science. Specs will be uploaded to your slates. She was tasked with investigating a class M planet that’s inside the nebula. Nebula is cold, but we’ll prepare for hot in case we hit any pockets. Corpsmen, take extra and be ready for anything; we don’t know their situation, might have to carry them out.

 

“Communications...” he glanced around the room, “... don’t depend on it. Like I said, we’ve heard nothing from them so there might be a block. Same thing applies to transporters and emergency beam-out tags.

 

“Gunny’s going to fill you in on tactics.”

 

Kal stepped back and GYSGT Momoa took the platform as a hash line snaked across the screen to mark what the Klingons considered their border. “As you can see, we’re barely 38 minutes from Klingon space. Gunny Kal mentioned it’s a cold nebula and according to CPTN Granger, there are large quantities of dilithium present. The chance that we’ll run into Klingons is pretty much a given - at least we’re going to go in that direction. Major’s ordered hardtail brush-up on Klingon everything. She’s got a lot of experience with Klingons and given us some good training programs. We’ll prepare for boarding, ground, class M all terrain, asteroids, you name it. Maintenance support is rigging up the tactical prep area now.

 

“The latest known Klingon tactics and ship specifications are on your slates. We’ve pulled every weapon from the lockers for hand-to-hand. Any of you have a prize of your own, now’s the time to share. Questions?”

 

“Any chance they’ve strayed into Klingon space?” CPL Johnny Longknife, Easy Team’s tactician pushed off from the wall.

 

“Not likely, but possible,” replied Moa. “CO is Vulcan. CPTN Sivok. Knows his stuff. At this point we’re considering everything. And along those lines, CPTN Granger’s doing her counterintel thing; she’ll fill us in with anything we need to know. Other questions?” He glanced around. “A’ight. Let’s do it.”